As an aside, when I worked tugs we'd make a fid that worked like the Fid-o but for much larger rope. It was just a regular wooden fid turned down at the end to accept a bit of pipe. I'd push the fid in to it's max diameter, slip the pipe on and then slide the whole unit till the pipe was in the lay and the fid could be extracted.
I thought it was a traditional tool as I'd seen them around from when I was a kid as part of the cool stuff the Chief on a tug kept in his lockers. That's well before Fid-o's patent but maybe (I've not looked it up) the patent focused on the plastic, the shovel point, or the notch fit of the needle part to the hollow part.
Anyway, a great tool for it's purpose, as is the fid Brion so rightly and proudly sells. Just, if you've not the right size handy, be not bashful about making one. Boat people traditionally make things to fit their own hand to the job.
G'luck
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07-13-2009, 07:51 AM
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